Stakes are hotting up to buy second best selling daily

The state-owned firm that controls 49% of Rzeczpospolita plans to make a counter-offer against the majority owner, Orkla, newspapers reported on Saturday. In March, Orkla and a group of Rzeczpospolita employees made an undisclosed bid for state-owned PPW's stake in publisher Presspublica under which Orkla would raise its stake to 83.7% from 51%, with 16.3% going to employees. The press reported that PPW is not satisfied with the price and has responded with its own bid of around the same amount. "The valuation (in Orkla's bid)...indicates a sudden and surprising drop in the shares' value," said PPW director Maciej Cegłowski. Neither PPW, nor the State Treasury, was immediately available for comment. But the leader of the employee group said that so far his company, like Orkla, has received no official response to their bid. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 28; Reuters) A.K.